The invention relates to apparatus for converting a continuous web of coherent panels of paper or the like into a series of stacks wherein the panels are accumulated in zig-zag formation. The invention also relates to apparatus for subdividing a continuously growing larger stack of panels which are assembled in zig-zag formation into a succession of smaller stacks containing predetermined numbers of overlapping panels.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 22 64 633 discloses an apparatus wherein a continuously supplied web of coherent panels of paper or the like is converted into a zig-zag formation by two roller chains disposed at opposite sides of the path along which the web is supplied. The chains cooperate in such a way that they alterately engage successive panels of the running web to form a succession of transversely extending fold lines with the resulting conversion of the web into a continuously growing stack consisting of panels in zig-zag formation. Each chain is provided with alternating gripping and folding strips which extend transversely of the path of movement of the web. Successive folding strips of one chain cooperate with successive gripping strips of the other chain and vice versa. This entails the conversion of the web into a zig-zag formation of superimposed panels.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 25 33 434 discloses a different apparatus wherein the means for converting a running web into a succession of panels in zig-zag formation comprises two driven rollers. The rollers rotate around suction chambers and are arranged to attract alternate panels of the running web. The attracted panels are caused to move sideways along arcuate paths which conform to the peripheries of the respective rollers. Consequently, the distance between the level of engagement of successive panels by the respective rollers and the level of the plane where the rollers release the respective panels is considerably less than the width of a panel as measured in the longitudinal direction of the web. This results in the formation of a stack wherein the overlapping panels tend to assume an undulate shape.
The aforementioned German Offenlegungsschrift No. 22 64 633 further discloses an apparatus for subdivision of a growing stack of panels in zig-zag formation into a succession of discrete stacks wherein each stack contains a predetermined number of panels. The subdividing apparatus comprises a table which is movable into the space between two selected neighboring panels of the continuously growing stack and carries a knife cooperating with a roller so as to sever the web along the fold line which connects the selected panels to each other.